Sunday, June 20, 2010

Last summer, Wick bought me a fancy new sewing machine that has all kinds of bells and whistles. The sewing shop offered free lessons. I'm all over anything free.Then I heard that my niece was expecting, so I thought I could make a quilt for the baby, using the quilt project to practice the skills I was learning in my sewing classes.

I couldn't find a pattern that was exactly what I wanted, so I sketched out a little house, complete with chimney, clouds, cartoon sun, flowering trees, and a little red path to the door.

A baby quilt is about 45" by 60", so I was able to handle it quite well.

This became the central panel, a sort of "welcome home" for the new baby. The surrounding panels were patchwork, and I was very pleased with the outcome.

Then my son and DIL approached me about making a quilt for Pie, who would be graduating this year. They had a big pile of soccer jerseys, jackets, shorts, t-shirts from all her years of playing club soccer.

Since she has received a soccer scholarship, what a great way to preserve the memories and look forward toward her college years.

Even though I had almost a year for this project, I had to start right away. I'm slow, and have to take frequent breaks, so I needed to get started right away.

The squares are 12" x 12", with two inch lattice strips. As long as I was working with a square at a time, I was fine. Then I started sewing the squares into strips. The pieces began to get heavy and harder to handle.

By the time I had 5 squares across, by 6 squares down, I was struggling. The top got really heavy. I still need to add the borders, and then quilt it, but I don't think I can handle it alone.

Thankfully, Wick has volunteered to help handle the quilt as I sew.

Two quilts.

One to welcome home a new addition to the family.

The other to say Goodbye, as our eldest grandchild spreads her wings, and begins a new stage in her life.

Yes, she will come home now and then, but she will be different every time, as she grows and evolves into young adulthood.